several Particular deductions to lay every Man's State as plainly open to his View as I can 1st Then from the Notion I have given of Perfection it appears That if a Man's Life be very Vneven Unconstant and Contradictory to it self if he be to day a Saint and to morrow a Sinner if he yield to day to the Motives of the Gospel and Impulses of the Spirit and to morrow to the Sollicitations of the Flesh and Temptations of the World he is far from being Perfect so far that there is not ground enough to conclude Him Sincere or Real though Imperfect Convert The only certain Proof of Regeneration is Victory he that is born of God over-cometh the World 1 Joh. 5.4 Faith though it be True is not presently Saving and Justifying till it have subdued the Will and captivated the Heart i. e. till we begin to Live by Faith which is evident from That Corn in the Parable which though it shot up yet had it not Depth of Earth nor Root enough and therefore was withered up and brought forth no fruit Regret and Sorrow for Sin is an Excellent Passion but till it has subdued our Corruptions chang'd our Affections and purified our Hearts 't is not that Saving Repentance in the Apostle 2 Cor. 7.10 Godly sorrow worketh Repentance not to be repented of We may have some sudden Heats and Passions for Vertue but if they be too short liv'd to implant it in us this is not that Charity or Love which animates and impregnates the New Creature mentioned Gal. 5.6 Faith working by Love Lastly we may have good Purposes Intentions nay Resolutions but if these prove too weak to obtain a Conquest over our Corruptions if they prove too weak to resist the Temptations we were wont to fall by 't is plain that they are not such as can demonstrate us Righteous or entitle us to a Crown which is promised to him that overcometh And here I cannot but remark to how little purpose Controversies have been multiplied about the Justification of Man 'T is one thing for God to justifie us i. e. to Pardon our Sins and account us Righteous and his Children and another for us to know or be assured that he does so If we enquire after the former 't is plain to me that no Man can be accounted Righteous by God till he really is so And when the Man is Sanctified throughout in Spirit Soul and Body then is he certainly Justified and not till then And this I think is confessed by all except Antinomians and whatever Difference there is amongst Christians in this Matter it lies in the Forms and Variety of Expression They that contend earnestly for the Necessity of Good works do not I suppose imagine that the Works are Holy before the Heart is so for as is the Fountain such will be its Streams as is the Tree such will be its Fruits What Absurdity then is there in admitting that Men are justified before they bring forth Good Works if they cannot bring forth Good Works till they be Sanctified and Chang'd On the other hand they who contend so earnestly for Justification by Faith without Works do not only suppose that the Man is throughly changed by the Infusion of Habitual Grace but also that this Grace as soon as it has opportunity will exert and express it self in good Works And they do readily acknowledge that the Faith which does not work by Love is an Historical Unanimated Faith And if so how natural is it to comprise in that Holiness which justifies not only the change of the Heart but of the Actions But here I think it is well worth the considering whether that thorough Change in the nature of a Sinner which is called Holiness be now effected at once and in a moment and not rather gradually and in time For this may give some light to the Doctrine of Justification and draws off from Speculations and Theories to more Useful and Practical Thoughts and Discourses about it 'T is true in the Primitive times when the Conviction of a Sinner was wrought by a dazling light by Surprising Miracles by Exuberant Influxes of the Spirit and the Concurrence of many extraordinary things Sanctification as in the Goaler and his Family Act. 16. might be begun and finished in the same hour But I doubt it is rarely so with us at this day our Vices are not so suddenly subdued nor our Vertues so suddenly implanted Our Convictions in the Beginning of Conversion are seldom so full and clear as Theirs And if we may judge by the Effects 't is but seldom that the Principle of a New Life is infus'd in the same Plenty and Power it appears to have been in Them And if so then these things will follow 1. Though in the first Plantation of the Gospel Men being converted as it were in a Moment ingrafted by Baptism into Christ and receiving the Holy Ghost the Earnest of their Justification or Acceptance with God and their future Glory We may very well say of them that they were not only Justified but also knew themselves to be so before they had brought forth any other Fruit of Righteousness than what was implied in the Dedication of themselves to Christ by that solemn Rite of Baptism but at this day when Conversion is not effected in the same manner when Faith and Good Works do mutually cherish one another when Righteousness is not brought forth into victory but by long labour and travel I see not why Faith and Good Works may not be pronounced jointly and antecedently necessary to our Justification 2. The Doctrine of Infused Habits has been much ridiculed and exposed as absurd by some Men and I must confess if it be Essential to a Habit to be acquired by length of time and repetition of the same Acts then an Infus'd Habit is a very Odd Expression But why God cannot produce in us those strong Dispositions to Vertue in a Moment which are naturally produced by Time or why we may not ascribe as much efficacy to Infus'd Grace as Philosophers are wont to do to repeated Acts I cannot see Nor can I see why such Dispositions when Infus'd may not be called Habits if they have all the Properties and Effects of an Habit. And that such excellent Dispositions were on a sudden wrought in the Minds of Christians in the beginning of Christianity is too plain from the History of those times to need a proof But whether such Changes are ordinarily effected so suddenly at this day we have much reason to doubt nay I think it appears from what I have said there is sufficient reason to deny it And if so the Infusion of Habits cannot be so properly insisted on now as then and we may be more subject to make unwarrantable Inferences from the Doctrine of Infus'd Habits then they were in those bright and Miraculous days 3. As our Progress to Sanctification must be slower then formerly as it must be longer before
and the Experience of the best Men that we must watch and pray and contend labour and persevere and that long too e're we can attain it And whoever fancies himself rapt up into the third Heaven on a sudden will find himself as suddenly led down to the Earth again if he do not use his utmost diligence to fortifie his Resolutions to cherish the New-born Flame and to guard and improve his Vertues 3ly It may be Objected against the account I have given of the growth of Vertue that when I come to the Maturity of it my Colours are too bright my Strokes too bold and the Form I have given it too Divine For you discribe it will one say as if Man now grown Perfect had nothing to do but to enjoy God and himself as if he were already entered into Rest and did actually sit down with Christ in Heavenly places as if in a word Vertue were no longer his task but Pleasure as if he had nothing to do but to rejoyce continually nothing further to press after nothing to combate nothing to contend with Whereas the Fathers generally and all Judicious Modern Writers seem to place Perfection in nothing higher then in a perpetual Progress towards it they look upon Life as a perpetual warfare and utterly deny any such Height or Eminence as is rais'd above Clouds and Storms above Troubles and Temptations But to this I have several things to say which will clear my sense about this Matter and dispel all Objections First I have described the last Stage of the Christian's spiritual Progress which I call a state of Zeal and in which I suppose the Christian to commence Perfect this I say I have described in the same manner and as near as I could in the same words which the Scripture does Secondly I do not pretend any where to assert that there is any state in this Life rais'd above Tryals and Temptations Alas The most Perfect Man will find it work enough to make good the Ground he has gain'd and maintain the Conquest he has won much watchfulness and labour much humility and fear and many other Vertues are necessary to Perseverance in a state of Perfection Thirdly As the World goes now and indeed ever did Perfection is a state we arrive at very late and all the way to it full of Labour and Travel full of Dangers and Difficulties so that upon this account the Life of Man may well enough be said to be a perpetual Warfare But Fourthly I do by no means affirm that the Perfect Man is incapable of Growth and Improvement Of this I shall have occasion to unfold my sense more fully afterwards In the mean time I cannot forbear observing here that there is a great difference between the growth of an Imperfect and a Perfect Christian for supposing Grace to be always increasing and the very Maturity of Vertue to admit of Degrees yet the marks and distinctions of such different Degrees are so nice and delicate that the Advances of the Perfect Man are scarcely perceptible to himself without the closest and strictest Enquiry Much less can they fall under the Observation of others The first Change of a Sinner from Darkness to Light from Vice to Virtue from an aversion for God and Goodness to a Sincere though not a Perfect Love of both is very palpable So again the change from a state of weakness and inconstancy to one of strength of conflict and difficulty to one of ease and liberty of fear and doubt to one of confidence and pleasure is little less evident and sensible But the several degrees of growth afterwards the improvements whatever they be of a Mature state are of another Nature not consisting in a Change but Adition and that made insensibly Here therefore the Perfect Man in order to maintain the Peace and Pleasure of his Mind need not enter into a Nice and Scrupulous Examination of the Degrees and Measures of his Virtues 't is sufficient that he make good his Post 't is enough if he follow the advice of St. Paul 1 Cor. 15.58 If he be steadfast and unmoveable and always abounding in the Works of the Lord. CHAP. VI. Of the Means of Perfection SHould I insist particularly on every one of the Means or Instruments of Perfection it would lead me through the whole Systeme of Religion it would oblige me to treat of all the Articles of our Faith and all the Parts of Moral Righteousness For the Vertues of the Gospel do all afford mutual support and nourishment to one another and mutually Minister to their own growth and strength And Prayer and the Lord's Supper not to mention Meditation Psalmody Conversation Discipline are founded upon the belief of all the Mysteries of our Religion and consist in the Exercise of almost all Christian Graces as Repentance Faith Hope Charity But this would be an endless task I purpose therefore here only to lay down some few General Observations which may serve for directions in the use of Gospel Means point out the End we are to aim at and enable us to reap the utmost Benefit from them These Observations are 1. The Practice of Wisdom and Vertue is the best way to improve and strengthen both 2. The Two general and immediate Instruments as of Conversion so of Perfection too are the Gospel and the Spirit 3. The natural and immediate Fruit of Meditation Prayer Eucharist Psalmody and good Conversation is the quickning and enlivening the Conscience the Fortifying and Confirming our Resolutions and the raising and keeping up an Heavenly Frame of Spirit 4. The immediate Ends of Discipline are the subduing the Pride of the Heart and reducing the Appetites of the Body 5. Lastly Some kinds of Life are better suited and accommodated to the great Ends of Religion and Vertue than others I will very briefly Illustrate each of these Observations and suggest from them such Rules as I shall judge most serviceable to promote Perfection § 1. The Practice of Wisdom and Vertue is the best way to improve and strengthen both This is a Proposition almost Self-evident For besides that it is acknowldg'd on all Hands that the frequent repetition of single Acts of Vertue is the natural way to arrive at an Habit of it the Practice of Vertue gives a Man great boldness towards God mingles Joy and Pleasure in all his Addresses to him purifies and enlightens the Mind and entitles him to more plentiful Measures of Grace and higher degrees of Favour If ye continue in my Word then are ye my Disciples indeed and ye shall know the Truth and the Truth shall make you free Joh. 8.31.3 To him that hath shall be given and he shall have more abundance Mat. 13.12 If this be so as undoubtedly it is it is plain That we ought not to be fond of such a Solitude or Retirement as cuts off the opportunity of many Vertues which may be daily practis'd in a more publick and active Life The true
and allures us and 't is our Consent to its Enticements that gives Being to Sin and defiles us with Guilt From all this now put together 't is easie to conclude what sort of a Description we are to form of Mortal Sin 'T is such a Transgression of the Law of God as is vicious in its Original deliberate in its Commission and Mischievous in its Tendencies or Effects The Heart is corrupted and misled by some Lust or other and so consents to the Breach of the Moral Law of God a Law of Eternal and Immutable Goodness or if the Sin consists in the Breach of any Positive Law it must yet imply in it some moral Obliquity in the Will or in the Tendency of the Action or both So that Presumptuous or Mortal Sin call it by what Name we Will is a Deliberate Transgression of a known Law of God tending to the Dishonour of God the Injury of our Neighbour or the Depravation of our Nature Such are those sins which the Prophet Isaiah exhorts those who will repent to cease from And such are those we have a Catalogue of Eph. 5. Gal. 5. and elsewhere Now the Works of the Flesh are manifest which are these Adultery Fornication Vncleanness Lasciviousness Idolatry Witchcraft Hatred Variance Emulations Wrath Strife Seditions Heresies Envyings Murders Drunkenness Revellings and such-like These are the sins of which as of so many Members the Body of sin consists These constitute the old Man These are sometimes called the filthiness of the Flesh and Spirit Vngodliness Wickedness Iniquity the Lusts of the Flesh worldly Lusts and such-like These and the like sins have as I said in them very apparent Symptoms of Malignity and Mortality They are always the Effect of some carnal and worldly Lusts prevailing over the Law of the Mind and they imply a contempt of God Injustice to our Neighbour and some kind of Defilement and Pollution of our Nature And that these are the plain Indications of such a Guilt as excludes a Man from Heaven and the Favour of God is very plain from the account which the Scripture gives us both of the Origine and Influence of sin from the Care it takes to fortifie the Heart against all Infection from the constant Representations it makes us of the shamefulness and the Mischief of sin even in Reference to this World as well as the other I cannot see any thing further necessary to the Explication of Deliberate or Presumptuous sin unless it be here fit to add That it is Mortal though it proceed no further than the Heart There is no need at all that it should be brought forth into Action to render it Fatal and Damnable This is evident not only from the Nature of Divine Worship which must be entire sincere and spiritual and therefore can no more be reconciled to the Wickedness of our Hearts than of our Actions but also from the express words of our Saviour Out of the Heart proceed Fornication Adultery Theft c. And elsewhere he pronounces the Adultery of the Heart Damnable as well as that of the Body Mat. 5.28 But I say unto you that whosoever looketh upon a Woman to lust after her hath committed Adultery already with her in his Heart S. 2. I am next to give some account of the Liberty of Perfect Man in reference to the sin I have been discoursing of I shall not need to stop at any General or Preliminary Observations as That Abstinence from sin regards all the Commandments of God alike and to do otherwise were to mutilate and maim Religion and to dishonour God while we pretend to worship and obey Him For the Breach of any single Commandment is a manifest Violation of the Majesty and Authority of God whatever Observance we may pay all the rest For he that said do not commit Adultery said also do not kill Now if thou commit no Adultery yet if thou kill thou art become a transgressor of the Law Jam. 2.11 That the Restraints Man is to lay upon himself relate no less to the Lusts of the Soul than the Actions of the Body Except your Righteousness exceed the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees you shall by no means enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Mat. 5.10 That to begin well will avail us little unless we finish well too Universality Sincerity and Perseverance are generally acknowledged to be essential and indispensable Properties of Saving Justifying Faith These things therefore being but just mentioned I proceed to the Point to be enquir'd into and resolve 1. To be free from the Dominion and Power of Mortal Sin is the first and lowest step this is indispensable to sincerity and absolutely necessary to Salvation Let not Sin reign in your mortal Bodies to fulfil the Lusts thereof Rom. 6.12 And the advancing thus far does I acknowledge constitute Man in a state of Grace For in Scripture Men are Denominated righteous or wicked not from single Acts of Vice or Vertue but from the Prevalence and Dominion from the Habit or Custom of the one or the other know ye not that to whom ye yeild your selves Servants to obey his Servants ye are to whom ye obey whether of Sin unto Death or of Obedience unto Righteousness Rom. 6.16 But then I must here add two Remarks by way of Caution 1st We must not presume too soon of Victory over an Habitual Sin An evil Habit is not soon broken off nor is it an easie Matter to resolve when we have set our selves free from the Power of it Sometimes the Temptation does not present it self as often as it was wont or not with the same Advantages sometimes one Vice restrains us from another sometimes worldly Considerations or some little Change in our Temper without any thorough Change in our Minds puts us out of humour for a little while with a darling Sin and sometimes the Force and Clearness of Conviction produces some pious Fits which though they do not utterly vanquish a Lust do yet force it to give way and retreat for a while and interrupt that Love which they do not exstinguish All this may be and the work not yet be done nor our Liberty yet gain'd If therefore we fall though but now and then and though at some Distance of time into the same sin we have great reason to be jealous of its Power and our Safety Nay though we restrain our selves from the outward Commission of it if yet we feel a strong Propension to it if we discern our selves ready to take fire on the Appearance of a Temptation if we are fond of approaching as near it as we can and are pleas'd with those Indulgencies which are very near a kin to it we have reason to doubt that our Conquest is not yet entire Nay the Truth is we cannot be on good Grounds assured that we are Masters of our selves till we have a setled Aversion for the sin which before we doted on and shun the Occasions which before
dismissed from the Pilgrimage of this World and from the corruptible Tabernacle of the Body Nor do I Lastly doubt but that this Love is often sensibly transporting 't is a fire within that strives to break out and exert it self in the Fruitions of Heaven 't is a rich and mighty Cordial that raises Nature above it self and makes it all Purity all Glory Thus have I consider'd the Extent or Compass of the Perfect Man's Vertues And the Sum total is In some he must excell because Natural and Easie in others because necessary Universal ones he cannot want they are essential to Christianity others of a peculiar Nature he may unless his Circumstances exact them Nor is this any Diminutton of his Perfection Patience Fortitude Moderation Vigilance c. are the Vertues of Earth not Heaven and yet none thinks the blessed Inhabitants of that Place Imperfect because not endow'd with Habits which they do not want Above all he that will be Perfect must abound in those Graces which are of the most Heroick Nature Faith Love and Humility For these are they which most effectually exalt Man above himself and above the World which inflame him with a Zeal for the Honour of God and the Good of Man and enable him to surmount the Difficulties which he meets with in prosecuting this Glorious Design I am next to Enquire § 2. To what Height to what Degrees of Vertue the Perfect Man may advance I have in part anticipated this Enquiry already yet cannot forbear adding here two Observations First That Reason and Scripture seem to press us on towards an endless Progress in Vertue And yet Secondly That both seem to propose to us such a State of Perfection as attainable beyond which we cannot go that so the Beginner may not dispair of Perfection nor the Perfect abate any thing of their Vigilance and their Industry Such a Degree of Excellence to which nothing can be added such a Height above which there is no room to soar if apply'd to Man and this World is surely but an Imaginary Notion To dream of such a Perfection were to forget our Nature and our State no Sagacity of Judgment no Strength of Resolution no Felicity of Circumstances can ever advance us to this Height Such a Perfection as this that is incapable of any Increase belongs I believe to God alone or if we may allow it to Angels we must certainly deny it to Man In whom one would think the Appetites of the Body can never be so entrely subdued that there should be no place to extend his Conquest or render his Victory more entire and compleat and in whom one would think the Spirit of God should never reside in that Measure that there should be nothing to be added to his Fulness 'T is hard to conceive how we should study the Systeme of Divine Faith how we should daily reflect upon our Lives and Actions without growing in spiritual Wisdom and Understanding 'T is hard to conceive how we should give God the World and our selves repeated Proofs of our Integrity in the day of Tryal without increasing our Strength and Assurance and Love must naturally increase with these Whence it is that St. Paul acknowledging himself not yet Perfect resolves that forgetting those things that are behind and reaching forwards to those things that are before he would press on towards the Mark for the prize of the high Calling of God in Christ Jesus Phil. 3.13 14. And St. Austin resolves plenissima Charitas quam diu hîc homo vivit est in Nemine an absolute Plenitude of Charity is in no Mortal upon Earth And yet if we come to Fact and Practice one would be tempted to think that the Disciples of our Lord and Master had arrived at that State wherein their business was not to climb higher but rather to make good the Ground they had gain'd What could render St. Paul's Victory over the Body more compleat who assures us I am crucified with Christ And again I am crucified to the World and the World is crucified to me What could render the Authority and Dominion of his Mind more absolute or its Graces more consummate and entire who could say with Truth 't is not I who live but Christ who lives in me What would you have added to that Faith and Love which made him ready not only to be bound but to die at Jerusalem which made him long to be dissolved and to be with Christ As to those words of his Phil. 3.13 forgetting those things that are behind and reaching forwards c. they relate to his Tryals and Performances to his Perils and Conflicts not to his Attainments he does not here deny himself to be Perfect though that might well enough have become his Modesty and Humility but only that he was not to look upon himself as already at his Goal a Conqueror and Crown'd there being much yet behind to do and suffer notwithstanding all that he had passed through This is the Sense of his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we render not as though I were already perfect As to St. Austin I am of his Mind for he speaks Comparatively and does in effect no more than affirm That no Man living is as Perfect in this World as he will be in another which no Man sure can ever doubt If we consult Reason will it not be apt to tell us That as every Being has its Bounds set it so has every Perfection too That there is a Stature as of the Natural so of the Spiritual Man beyond which it cannot grow That as to Grace no more can be infused than our Natures are capable of Otherwise like too rich a Cordial it will not strengthen but fire our Natures or like too dazling a Light it will not assist but oppress our Faculties And does not the Parable of our Master countenance this Matth. 25.2 wherein he tells us That God gave to one five Talents to another two to another one to every Man according to his Ability By which one would think our Lord insinuates That the Measures of Grace are usually distributed in Proportion to the Capacities of Nature and that he who improved his two Talents into four arriv'd at his proper Perfection as well as he who improv'd his five into ten it being as absurd to expect That the Perfection of every Man should be the same as to expect that all Mens Bodies should be of the same Height or their Minds of the same Capacity Reflecting on all this together I cannot but be of Opinion That some have actually arriv'd at that strength of Faith at that ardour of Love that they seemed to have been uncapable of any considerable Accessions in this Life But yet new occasions may still demand new Vertues which were indeed before contained and included in Faith and Love but no otherwise than as Fruits and Trees are in their Seeds And some Degree of Original Corruption may still be lurking in the
proceed to the Fruits or Advantages of it and in the last place prescribe the Method by which it may be attained SECT I. Of Perfection in general The Fruit of it And the way to obtain it CHAP. I. The Nature of Perfection explained and Asserted from Reason and Scripture MOst Disputes and Controversies arise from false and Mistaken Notions of the Matter under Debate And so I could shew it has happened here Therefore to prevent Mistakes and cut off all occasions of Contention which serves only to defeat the Influence and Success of Practical Discourses I think it necessary to begin here with a plain account what it is I mean by Religious Perfection Religion is nothing else but the purifying and refining Nature by Grace the raising and exalting our Faculties and Capacities by Wisdom and Virtue Religious Perfection therefore is nothing else but the Moral Accomplishment of Human Nature such a Maturity of Virtue as Man in this Life is capable of Conversion begins Perfection consumates the Habit of Righteousness In the one Religion is as it were in its Infancy in the other in its Strength and Manhood so that Perfection in short is nothing else but a ripe and setled Habit of true Holiness According to this Notion of Religious Perfection He is a Perfect Man whose Mind is pure and Vigorous and his Body tame and obsequious whose Faith is firm and steady his Love ardent and exalted and his Hope full of Assurance whose Religion has in it That Ardour and Constancy and his Soul That Tranquility and Pleasure which bespeaks Him a Child of the Light and of the Day a Partaker of the Divine Nature and raised above the Corruption which is in the World through Lust This account of Religious Perfection is so natural and easie that I fancy no Man will demand a Proof of it nor should I go about one were it not to serve some further Ends then the meer Confirmation of it It has manifestly the Countenance both of Reason and Scripture And how Contradictory soever some Antient and Latter Schemes of Perfection seem to be or really are to one another yet do they all agree in effect in what I have laid down If we appeal to Reason no Man can doubt but that an Habit of Virtue has much more of Excellence and Merit in it then single accidental Acts or uncertain Fits and Passions since an Habit is not only the source and spring of the noblest Actions and the most elevated Passions but it renders us more regular and steady more uniform and constant in every thing that is good As to good natural Dispositions they have little of Strength little of Perfection in them till they be raised and improved into Habits And for our Natural Faculties they are nothing else but the Capacities of Good or Evil they are undetermined to the one or other till they are fix'd and influenced by Moral Principles It remains then that Religious Perfection must consist in an Habit of Righteousness And to prevent all impertinent Scruples and Cavils I add a Confirmed and well established One. That this is the Scripture Notion of Perfection is manifest First from the use of this Word in Scripture Secondly from the Characters and Descriptions of the best and highest State which any ever actually attained or to which we are invited and exhorted 1. From the use of the Word Where-ever we find any Mention of Perfection in Scripture if we examine the Place well we shall find nothing more intended than Vprightness and Integrity an unblameable and unreproveable Life a State well advanced in Knowledge and Virtue Thus Vpright and Perfect are used as terms equivalent Job 1. and that Man was Perfect and Vpright fearing God and eschewing Evil and Psalm 37.37 Mark the perfect Man and behold the upright Man for the end of that Man is Peace Thus again when God exhorts Abraham to Perfection Gen. 17.1 I am the Almighty God walk before me and be thou perfect all that He exhorts him to is a steady Obedience to all his Commandments proceeding from a lively Fear of and Faith in Him and this is the general use of this word Perfect throughout the Old Testament namely to signifie a sincere and just Man that feareth God and escheweth Evil and is well fix'd and established in his Duty In the New Testament Perfection signifies the same thing which it does in the Old that is Universal Righteousness and Strength and Growth in it Thus the Perfect Man 2 Tim. 3.17 is one who is throughly furnished to every good work Thus St. Paul tells us Coll. 4.12 that Epaphras laboured fervently in Prayers for the Collossians that they might stand perfect and compleat in all the will of God In Jam. 1.4 the Perfect Man is one Who is entire lacking nothing i. e. one who has advanced to a Maturity of Virtue through Patience and Experience and is fortified and established in Faith Love and Hope In this Sense of the word Perfect St. Peter prays for those to whom he writes his Epistle 1 Pet. 5.10 but the God of all Grace who called us into his Eternal Glory by Christ Jesus after that ye have suffered awhile make you Perfect Stablish Strengthen Settle you When St. Paul exhorts the Hebrews to go on to Perfection Heb. 6. he means nothing by it but that state of Manhood which consist in a well setled Habit of Wisdom and Goodness This is plain first from ver 11 12. of this Chapter where he himself more fully explains his own meaning and we desire that every one of you do shew the same Diligence to the full Assurance of hope unto the End that ye be not slothful but followers of them who through Faith and Patience inherit the Promise Next from the latter end of the 5 Chapter where we discern what gave occasion to his Exhortation there distinguishing Christians into two Classes Babes and Strong Men i. e. Perfect and Imperfect he describes Both at large thus For when for the time ye ought to be Teachers ye have need that one Teach you again which be the first Principles of the Oracles of God and are become such as have need of Milk and not of strong Meat For every one that useth Milk is unskilful in the word of Righteousness for he is a Babe but strong Meat belongeth to them that are of full Age even those who by reason of use have their Senses exercised to discern both good and evil And though here the Apostle seems more immediately to regard the Perfection of Knowledge yet the Perfection of Righteousness must never in the Language of the Scripture be separated from it Much the same Remark must I add concerning the Integrity of Righteousness and the Christian's Progress or Advance in it Though the Scripture when it speaks of Perfection do sometimes more directly referr to the one and sometimes to the other yet we must ever suppose that they do mutually imply and include one
another since otherwise the Notion of Perfection would be extreamly maimed and incompleat I 'll insist therefore no longer on the use of the Words Perfect and Perfection in Scripture But as a further Proof that my Notion of Perfection is truly Scriptural I will shew 2. That the utmost Height to which the Scripture exhorts us is nothing more then a Steady Habit of Holiness that the brightest Characters it gives of the Perfect Man the loveliest Descriptions it makes us of the Perfectest State are all made up of the Natural and confessed Properties of a Ripe Habit. There is no Controversie that I know of about the Nature of a Habit every Man's Experience instructs him in the whole Philosophy of it We are all agreed that it is a kind of Second Nature that it makes us exert our selves with Desire and Earnestness with Satisfaction and Pleasure that it renders us fix'd in our Choice and constant in our Actions and almost as averse to those things which are repugnant to it as we are to those which are distasteful and disagreeable to our Nature And that in a word it so entirely and absolutely possesses the Man that the Power of it is not to be resisted nor the Empire of it to be shaken off nor can it be removed and extirpated without the greatest Labour and Difficulty imaginable All this is a confess'd and almost palpable Truth in Habits of Sin And there is no Reason why we should not ascribe the same Force and Efficacy to Habits of Virtue Especially if we consider that the Strength Easiness and Pleasure which belong naturally to these Habits receive no small Accession from the Supernatural Energy and Vigour of the Holy Spirit I will therefore in few words shew how that State of Righteousness which the Scripture invites us to as our Perfection directly answers this account I have given of an Habit. Is Habit in General a second Nature This State of Righteousness is in Scripture called the New Man Eph. 4.24 the New Creature 2 Cor. 5.17 the Divine Nature 2 Pet. 1.4 Does it consequently Rule and Govern Man Hear how St. Paul expresses this Power of the Habit of Holiness in himself Gal. 2.20 I am Crucified with Christ nevertheless I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me and the Life which I now live in the Flesh I live by the Faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me This is a constant Effect of Habits and is equally discernable in Those of Vice and Virtue that they sway and govern the Man they possess Rom. 6.16 know ye not that to whom ye yield your selves Servants to obey his Servants ye are to whom ye obey whether of Sin unto Death or of Obedience unto Righteousness Shall I go on to a more distinct and particular Consideration of the Properties of an Habit The first is a great Aversion for those things which are contrary to it or obstruct us in the Exercise of it And this is directly the Disposition of the Perfect Man towards Temptations and Sins he is now ashamed of those things which before he gloried in he is filled with an Holy Indignation against those things which before he took Pleasure in and what before he courted with Fondness and Passion he now shuns with Fear and Vigilance In brief the Scripture describes such an one as possessed with an utter Hatred and Abhorrence of every Evil way and as an irreconcileable Enemy to every thing that is an Enemy to his Virtue and his God Thus Psal 119.163 I hate and abhor lying but thy law do I love and verse 128. Therefore I esteem all thy Precepts concerning all things to be right and I hate every false way And this is a genuine and Natural Effect of Integrity or uprightness of Heart whence 't is the Observation of our Saviour Math. 6.24 No man can serve two Masters for either he will hate the one and love the other or else he will hold to the one and despise the other And indeed every where a Hatred a Perfect Hatred of Evil is accounted as a necessary Consequence of the Love of God Psal 37.10 ye that love the Lord hate Evil and therefore the Psalmist resolves to Practise himself what he prescribes to others Psal 101.2.3 I will behave my self wisely in a perfect way O when wilt thou come unto me I will walk within my House with a perfect Heart I will set no wicked thing before mine Eyes I hate the work of them that turn aside it shall not cleave to me And how can this be otherwise The Love of God must necessarily imply an Abhorrence of Evil and that Habit which confirms and increases the one must confirm and increase the other too 2. The Next Property of an Habit is that the Actions which flow from it are if we meet not with violent opposition performed with Ease and Pleasure what is Natural is pleasant and easie and Habit is a Second Nature When the love of Virtue and the hatred of Vice have once rooted themselves in the Soul what can be more natural then to follow after the one and shun the other Since this is no more then embracing and enjoying what we love and turning our backs on what we detest This therefore is one constant Character of Perfection in Scripture Delight and Pleasure are every where said to accompany the Practice of Virtue when it is once grown up to Strength and Maturity The ways of Wisdom are ways of Pleasantness and all her Paths are Peace Prov. 3.17 Perfect Love casteth out Fear 1 Joh. 4.18 and to him that Loves the Commandments of God are not grievous 1 Joh. 5.3 Hence it is that the good Man's delight is in the Law of the Lord and that he meditates therein day and night Psal 1.2 Nor does he delight less in Action then Meditation but grows in Grace as much as Knowledge and abounds daily more and more in good works as he increases in the Comfort of the Holy Ghost Consonant to this Property of Perfection it is that in Psalm 19 and 119. and elsewhere frequently we hear the Psalmist expressing a kind of inconceiveable Joy and Transport in the Meditation and Practise of the Commands of God So the first Christians who spent their Lives in Devotion Faith and Charity are said Act. 2.46 to have eaten their Meat with Gladness and Singleness of Heart And 't is a delightful Description we have of the Apostles 2 Cor. 6.10 as sorrowful yet alway rejoycing as poor yet making many rich as having nothing yet possessing all things 3. Vigour and Activity or much Earnestness and Application of Mind is a third Property of an Habit. 'T is impossible not to be intent upon those things for which we have even an Habitual Passion if this Expression may be allowed me an inclination which has gathered Strength and Authority from Custom will exert it self with some warmth and briskness Now certainly there is nothing
his Vices which he did not reflect on sufficiently before he is vex'd and troubled at the plagues and mischiefs his Sin and Folly have already procured him and thinks he has reason to fear if he persist others far more intolerable Then he calls to mind the Goodness the long-suffering of God the love of Jesus the Demonstration of the Spirit and of Power and how distant soever he be from Vertue he discerns there is a Beauty and Pleasure in it and cannot but judge the Righteous happy These thoughts these Travels of the mind if they be not strangled in the Birth by a Man 's own wilfulness or Pusillanimity or unhappily diverted upon some Temptations do kindle in the Bosom of the Sinner the desires of Righteousness and Liberty they fill him with Regret and Shame cast him down and humble him before God and make him finally resolve on shaking off the Yoke This may be called a state of Illumination and is a state of Preparation for or Disposition to Repentance Or if it be Repentance it self 't is yet but an Embrio To perfect it 't is necessary Secondly That the Sinner make good his Resolutions and actually break with his Lusts he must reject their Sollicitations and boldly oppose their Commands he must take part with Reason and Religion keep a Watch and Guard over his Soul and must earnestly labour by Mortification and Discipline by Meditation and Prayer to root out Vice and Plant Vertue in his Soul This in the Language of the Prophet is ceasing to do Evil and learning to do well Isa 1.16 17. He that has proceeded thus far though he feel a great Conflict within though the Opposition of Lust be very strong and consequently the discharge of his Duty very difficult he is nevertheless in a state of Grace but in a state of Childhood too he is sincere but far from being Perfect And yet this is the state which many continue in to the end of their Lives being partly abus'd by false Notions and taught to believe from Rom. 7. that there is no higher or perfecter state partly intangled and incumbred by some unhappy circumstances of Life Or it may be the Force or Impetus of the Soul towards Perfection is much abated by the Satisfaction of Prosperity and the many Diversions and Engagements of a Fortunate Life But he that will be Perfect must look upon this state as the beginning of Vertue For it must be remembred that a stubborn and powerful Enemy will not be subdued and totally brought under in a Moment The Christian therefore must prosecute this War till he has finished it I will not say by Extirpating but disabling the Enemy But here I would have it well observ'd that the Reducing the Enemy to a low condition is not always effected by an uninterrupted Series of Victories for seldom is any so Fortunate or so Brave so Wise or so watchful as to meet with no Check in the long Course of a difficult War 't is enough if he be not discourag'd but instructed and awaken'd by it And to prevent any fatal disaster too Errors must carefully be avoided First a hasty and fond confidence in our selves with an over-weaning contempt and neglect of the Enemy And next all false and cowardly Projects of Truces and Accommodations Nor is the sitting down content with poor and low Attainments very far removed from this Latter This is the second Stage of the Christian's Advance towards Perfection and may be call'd the state of Liberty The third and last which now follows is the state of Zeal or Love or as Mystick Wrighters delight to call it the state of Vnion The Yoke of sin being once shaken off the Love of Righteousness and a delight in it is more and more increased And now the Man proceeds to the last round in the Scale of Perfection The Wisdom Courage and Vigour of a Convert is generally at first employed in subduing his corruptions in Conquering his ill Habits and Defeating his Enemies in watching over his own Heart and guarding himself against Temptations But this being once done he is in full Liberty to pursue the works of Peace and Love Now he may advance from necessary to voluntary Acts of Self-denial which before would have been putting old Wine into new Bottles contrary to the Advice of our Master Mat. 9.17 Now he may enlarge his Knowledge and exchange the Milk of the Word for strong Meat for the Wisdom and the Mysteries of it Now he may extend his watchfulness his care and whereas they were before wisely for the most part confined to his own safety he may now like our Saviour go about doing good Act. 10.38 protecting strengthning and rescuing his weak Brethren propagating the Faith and enflaming the bosoms of Men with the love of Jesus and his Truths Now in a word he may give himself up to a Life of more exalted Contemplation Purity and Charity which will be natural and easie now though it were not so in the beginning And this Life is accompanied with Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost with Confidence and Pleasure Now the Yoke of Christ is easie and his burden light now he rejoyces with Joy unspeakable and Hopes full of Glory Now 't is not so much he that lives as Christ that lives in him For the life which he now leads is entirely the product of Faith and Love and his greatest business is to maintain the Ground which he has got and to hold fast the steadfastness of his Hope unto the end To render this short account of the growth of Vertue from its very Seed to Maturity the more useful and to free it from some scruples which it may otherwise give occasion to I will here add two or three Remarks 1. That the State and Habit of Perfection is a different thing from some suddain Flights or Efforts of an Extraordinary Passion and so is the fixt and establish'd Tranquility of the Mind from some suddain Gusts and short lived fits of spiritual Joy No man attains to the Habits of Vertue and Pleasure but by degrees and the natural method and order by which he advances to either is that which I have set down But as to some Sallies of the most pure and exalted Passions as to short liv'd fits of Perfection as to transcient Tasts short and suddain transports of spiritual Pleasure it is very often otherwise God sometimes either to allure the frailty of a new Convert or to Fortifie his Resolution against some hazardous Tryal does raise him to an extraordinary height by more then usual Communications of his blessed Spirit and ravishes him by some Glances as it were of the Beatifick Vision Raptures of Love the melting tenderness of a pious Sorrow the Strength of Resolution and Faith the Confidence and Exultancy of Assurance do sometimes accompany some sort of Christians in the beginnings of Righteousness or in the state of Illumination Where the Conviction is full the Imagination lively
all our sinful or vain desires devote our selves to the Service of Jesus and learn to expect Happiness from nothing else but the Merits and the Imitation of his Cross So profound is the Wisdom of this Institution that it evidently speaks God the Author of it and proclaims the too common neglect of it in most parts of this Nation an in-excusable Sin and Folly 3. A Third end of Instrumental Duties of Religion is the raising and keeping up Holy and Devout Affections I know not why Passion is so commonly undervalued and disparaged in Religion unless they who thus treat it mean nothing by it but a short-liv'd and superficial commotion of the Mind which leaves no print or relish behind it and is presently succeeded by Sin and Folly Holy Passion is the vigour and strength of the Soul 't is the state and frame of the Mind when it is throughly moved and affected And therefore to form to ones self Religion destitute of Passion is little better than to content ones self with one that is lazy lukewarm and lifeless And though there be some Tempers very unapt to be moved yet 't is hard to imagine how even these can be wrought up to a Resolution or that Resolution be supported and continued without their being affected so throughly as to feel either a real Passion or something very nearly approaching one 'T is an excellent Frame of Spirit when the Soul is easily elevated and transported into Holy Passion And I find that all those Vertues or rather Acts of Vertue which are described to the Life and which are by all judg'd most Perfect and Lovely have most of Passion in them How warm and Passionate was the Love of David for his God! What Flame what vehemence of Desire was he moved by when he cries out Psal 42.1 2. As the Heart panteth after the water-brooks so panteth my Soul after thee O God My Soul thirsteth for God for the living God What awful Concussions and Agitations of Spirit did he feel when he thus describes his Fear My Flesh trembleth for fear of thee and I am afraid of thy Judgments Psal 119.120 What afflictions of Soul what tenderness of Heart do we meet with in the Repentance of St. Peter when He went forth and wept bitterly Of Mary Magdalen or whoever that Woman in Luk. 7. was when she washed the Feet of our Saviour with her Tears and wiped them with the Hairs of her Head And of the Royal Psalmist when he watered his Couch with his Tears Psal 6.6 Nor were the Pleasures of Assurance less sensible and vehement then the sorrows of Repentance when the first Christians rejoyced with Joy unspeakable and Hopes full of Glory Shall I here add that Holy Indignation against Sin that vehement desire of making some Reparation for it which is the effect of Godly Sorrow that Zeal and Fervency of Spirit in the Service of God which is the highest Character of Perfection it self Shall I call these Passions I must not for though they have the heat and agitation of Passion they have in them the firmness and steadiness of an Habit. And I wish with all my Heart that all those other excellent Affections of Soul which I before named could be rendered Natural and Habitual The nearer we come to this undoubtedly the Perfecter I doubt Mortality is incapable of any such height But the more frequent as well as the more vehement and fervent the better certainly For great is the Force and Vertue of Holy Passion the flame of Love refines our Nature and Purifies it from all its Dross the Tears of a Godly Sorrow extinguish all our carnal and worldly Lusts and the Agitations of Fear preserve the chastity and purity of the Soul 'T is plain then that our Religion ought to be animated by Holy Passions that the more frequent and natural these grow the more Perfect we are that being the most excellent frame of Spirit when we are most apt to be sensibly and throughly affected by Divine Truths By what Means we may attain to this is now briefly to be considered 'T is certain that great and Important wonderful and glorious Truths will not fail to affect us and that throughly unless Lust or Infidelity have render'd us stupid and impenetrable And that Gospel Truths are such is no doubt at all let the Conviction be full the Representation lively and the Truth will do its work 'T is for want of such circumstances and such sensible Notions of an Object as may strike the Imagination for want of close and particular Applications when Divine Truths do not move us This now does not only call us to the frequent Meditation of the most Affecting Subjects the Majesty and Omnipresence of God the Sufferings of Christ Death and Judgment Heaven and Hell but it shews also how to model and form our Meditations that they prove not cold and sluggish Let the Object of our Thoughts be described by the most sensible Images or Resemblances let it be clad with the most natural circumstances let it be made as particular as it can by fixing its Eye upon us and pointing its Motion towards us but above all and in the first place let the Proof of it be clear and strong Prayer is an Exercise very apt to move the Passion The Mind having disengaged it self from all Earthly and Bodily Affections is prepared for the impression of Truth and the Spirit of God it draws nearer into the Presence of God and the sense of this sheds an awful Reverence upon it it has a clearer calmer and more serious View of Divine Things then when it is obscured and disturbed by worldly Objects In a word Meditation is in this Exercise render'd more solemn and more particular and when the Holy Fire is kindled in the Soul it dilates and diffuses it self more and more till the strength of Desire the vehemence of Holy Love transcending the weakness of this Mortal Nature we faint under the Passions that we cannot bear The Lord's Supper is an Holy Rite wonderfully adapted to raise excellent Passions Here Christ is as it were set forth Crucified amongst us we see His Body broken and His Blood poured forth here with a devout Joy we receive and embrace Him by Faith and Love in those Symbols of His Body and Blood and Pledges of His Love The Soul must be very ill prepared it must have very imperfect Notions of Sin and Damnation the Cross of Christ Grace and Salvation which is not sensible of a Crow'd of Holy Passions springing up in it at this Sacrament Hymns and Psalms have by I know not what Natural Magick a peculiar Force and Operation upon a pious Mind Divine Poetry has a noble elevation of Thoughts it does not devise and counterfeit Passions but only vents those which it feels and these are pure and lovely kindled from above Therefore are all its Characters natural its Descriptions lively its Language moving and powerful and all is
Inadvertency in compleat Acts of crying Sins Secondly There is no pretence for Inadvertency if we had any Misgivings within or Warnings without concerning that particular Sin into which we fell afterwards much less if we cherish ill Motions till they grow too strong for us And Last of all if we repeat the same Sin frequently and contemptuously And to this I may add he cannot be said to Sin through Surprise who throws himself into the Way of Temptation even though he be conscious of his own Infirmity 3ly As to those Moral Defects which flow from natural Infirmity they will not destroy us if the Infirmity it self be pardonable There are Infirmities which we acquire Infirmities which grow stronger by Indulgence Infirmities which continue meerly because we do not take Pains to subdue them Our Moral Defects must not flow from these kinds of Infirmities but from such as considering Human Nature and the State of this World 't is impossible utterly to root out These moral Defects will do us no harm if First we take Care to settle in our Minds the Habits of those Vertues that are directly opposite to them Secondly If we watch and fight against our natural Infirmities and endeavour to reduce our Appetites even our natural Appetites within strict and narrow Bounds Thirdly If we wash off the Stains of our Slips and Defects by a general Repentance For upon the Notion I have here given of Venial Sin Repentance appears to be very necessary for I require in them something of Voluntary someting of Freedom enough to make an Action sinful though not to prove the Heart corrupt or wicked And because the Degrees of Voluntary and Involuntary are not so easily distinguishable from one another 't is plain our best security against any ill Consequence of our Defects and Frailties is a Godly Sorrow And therefore I wonder not if David charge himself more severely than God does my Sins are more in number than the hairs of my head this was a Confession that became the Humility and Sollicitude of a Penitent That became the Reflections of a wise and Perfect Man and the Corruption of Human Nature the Alloy of Human Performances the slips and Defects the Interruptions Neglects and Deviations of the best Life CHAP. VI. Of Liberty as it imports Freedom or Deliverance from Mortal Sin HERE I will Enquiry into three Things 1. What Mortal Sin is or what kind of Sins they be which are on all hands acknowledg'd to be Inconsistent with a state of Grace and Favour 2. How far the Perfect Man must be set free or deliver'd from this kind of Sins or how remote he is from the Guilt of them 3. Which way this Liberty may be best attained S. 1. The First thing necessary is to state the Notion of that Sin which passes under the Name of Mortal Wilful Presumptuous or Deliberate Sin For these in Writers are equivalent Terms and promiscuously used to signifie one and the same thing Sin saith St. John 1 Ep. 3.4 is the Transgression of the Law This is a plain and full Definition too of Sin For the Law of God is the Rule of Moral Actions 't is the Standard and Measure of Right and Wrong of moral Good and Evil whatever is not within the Compass of the Law is not within the Compass of Morality neither whatever cannot be comprehended within this Definition cannot have in it the entire and compleat Notion of Sin or which is all one it cannot be Sin in a strict proper and adequate Sense of the Word Hence St. John in the same Verse tells us That whosoer sinneth transgresseth a Law and St. Paul Rom. 4.15 where there is no Law there is no Transgression Sin then must alwaies suppose a Law without which there can be neither Vice nor Vertue Righteousness nor Wickedness For these are nothing else but the Violation or Observation of the Law of God or Habits and States resulting from the one or the other But this is not all Two Things more must be remark'd to render this Definition which the Apostle gives us of Sin clear and full First The Law must be sufficiently reveal'd Secondly The Transgression of it must be truly Voluntary 1. By sufficient Revelation of a Divine Law every one understands That the Law must be so publish'd to the Man who is to be govern'd by it that the Authority and Sense of it may be if it be not his own fault render'd evident to him If the Divine Authority of any Rule or Precept be doubtful and uncertain the Obligation of it will be so too And it is as necessary that the sense of the Law should be evident as its Authority The Law that is pen'd in dark and ambiguous Terms is properly speaking no Law at all Since the Mind of the Law-giver is not sufficiently made known by it Whatever is necessarily to be forborn or done by us must be fully and clearly prescribed in the Law of God and if it be not it can never be necessary Men through Weakness or Design may Enact Laws that are but a heap of Letters a Crowd of dubious Delphick Sentences But God can never do so because this is repugnant both to his Wisdom and Goodness and to the very End of a Law too which is to be a Rule not a Snare 't is to give Understanding to the Simple to be a Light to our Feet and a Lamp to our Paths not like an Ignis fatuus to betray us into Brakes and Precipices and Ruin and Death 2. Transgression must be a Voluntary one And this imports two Things 1. A Knowledge of Law 2. A Consent to the Breach of it First As to the Knowledge of the Law All that I have to say here in few words is That Ignorance of the Law excuses a Transgression when it is it self excusable but if the Ignorance it self be Criminal the effect of it must be so too We must never think of excusing our Sins by alledging an Ignorance into which not our own Incapacity or any other reasonable Cause but Neglect or Contempt of the Truth or some other vicious Lust or Passion has betray'd us Secondly As to the Consent of the Will This is necessary to demonstrate any Action sinful or vertuous without this the Mind will be no Partner in the Sin and by Consequence cannot be involved in the Guilt of it Whatever we cannot help is our Misfortune not our Fault Actions meerly natural or meerly forc'd can neither be good nor evil The concurrence of Reason and Choice is indispensably necessary to the Morality of an Action All this is plainly taught us by St. James 1.14 15. But every Man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own Lust and enticed then when Lust hath conceived it bringeth forth Sin and Sin when it is finished bringeth forth Death Which words do certainly imply That the Spring and Principle of Sin is within our selves That 't is our natural Corruption that entices
we courted till we be possess'd of a Habit of that Vertue which is a direct Contradiction to it and take as much pleasure in the Obedience as ever we did in the Transgression of a Divine Command 2ly There are some Sins of that provoking Nature so criminal in their Birth and mischievous in their Consequences That one single Act or Commission of one of these is equivalent to a Habit of others such is Murther Idolatry Perjury Adultery these cannot be committed without renouncing Humanity as well as Christianity without resisting the Instincts and Impulses of Nature as well as the Eight of the Gospel and the Grace of the Spirit We must break thorough a great many Difficulties and Terrors e're we can come at these Sins we must commit many other in order to commit one of these we must deliberate long resolve desperately and in Defiance of God and Conscience and what is the Effect of Habit in other Instances is a necessary Preparative in these that is Obduration In this Case therefore the unhappy Man that has been guilty of any one of these must not look upon himself as set free when he is come to a Resolution of never repeating it again But then when he loaths and abhors himself in Dust and Ashes when he has made the utmost Reparation of the Wrong he is capable of when if the Interest of Vertue require it he is content to be oppress'd with Shame and Sufferings when in one word a long and constant Course of Mortification Prayers Tears and good Works have washed off the Stain and Guilt 2. We must be free not only from a Habit but from single Acts of deliberate presumptuous Sin The Reason is plain Mortal Sin cannot be committed without wounding the Conscience grieving the Spirit and renouncing our Hopes in God through Christ for the time at least The wages of Sin is Death is true not only of Habits but single Acts of Deliberate Sin Death is the penalty the Sanction of every Commandment and the Commandment does not prohibit Habits only but single Acts too Nor is there indeed any room for Doubt or Dispute here but in one Case which is If a Righteous Man should be taken off in the very Commission of a Sin which he was fallen into Here indeed much may be said and with much Uncertainty But the Resolution of this Point does not as far as I can see minister to any good or necessary End and therefore I will leave it to God In all other Cases every thing is clear and plain For if the Servant of God fall into a presumptuous Sin 't is universally acknowledg'd that he cannot recover his Station but by Repentance If he repent presently he is safe but if he continue in his Sin if he repeat it he passes into a state of Wickedness widens the Breach between God and his Soul declines insensibly into a Habit of sin and renders his Wound more and more incurable 'T is to little purpose I think here to consider the vast Difference there is in the Commission even of the same sin between a Child of God and a Child of Wrath because a Child of God must not commit it at all if he do though it be with Reluctancy though it be as it were with an imperfect Consent and with a divided Soul though the Awe of Religion and Conscience seems not utterly to have forsaken him even in the midst of his sin though his Heart smite him the very Minute it is finish'd and Repentance and Remorse take off the Relish of the unhappy Draught yet still 't is Sin 't is in its Nature Damnable and nothing but the Blood of Jesus can purge the Guilt 3. The Perfect Man may be supposed not only actually to abstain from Mortal Sin but to be advanced so far in the Mortification of all his inordinate Affections as to do it with Ease and Pleasure with Constancy and Delight For it must reasonably be presumed that his Victory over ungodly and worldly Lust is more confirm'd and absolute his Abhorrence of them more deep and sensible more fixt and lasting than that of a Beginner or Babe in Christ The Regenerate at first fears the Consequence of sin but by Degrees he hates the Sin it self The Purity of his Soul renders him now incapable of finding any pleasure in what he doted on before and the Love of God and Vertue raiseth him above the Temptations which he was wont to fall by old things are past away and all things are become new 4. Lastly The Perfect Man's Abstinence is not only more easie and steady but more entire and compleat also than that of others He has a regard to the End and Design of the Law to the Perfection of his Nature to the Purity and Elevation of his Sowl and therefore he expounds the Prohibitions of the Law in the most enlarg'd Sense and interprets them by a Spirit of Faith and Love He is not content to refrain from Actions directly criminal but shuns every Appearance of Evil and labours to mortifie all the Dispositions and Tendencies of his Nature towards it and to decline whatever Circumstances of Life are apt to betray the Soul into a Love of this World or the Body he has crucified the World and the Body too That Pleasure that Honour that Power that Profit which captives the Sinners tempts and tries and disquiets the Novice is but a burthen a trouble to him he finds no Gust no relish in these things He is so far from Intemperance so far from Wantonness so far from Pride and Vanity that could he without any Disadvantage to the Interest of Religion he would imitate the Meanness the Plainness the Laboriousness the Self-denial of our Saviour's Life not only in Disposition and Affection of his Soul but even in his outward State and Deportment and would prefer it far above the Pomp and Shew of Life In one word he enquires not how far he may Enjoy and be Safe but how far he may deny himself and be wise he is so far from desiring forbidden Satisfactions that he is unwilling and afraid to find too much Satisfaction in the natural and necessary Actions of an animal Life I need not prove this to any one who has read the foregoing Chapters for it is what I have been doing throughout this Treatise It is nothing but what is consonant to the whole Tenour of the Scripture and to the Example of the best Times And 't is conformable to what the best Authors have writ who have any thing of Life and Spirit in their Works or have any true Notion of the great Design of Christian Religion which is an heavenly Conversation Let any one but cast his Eye on St. Basil or any other after him who aim'd at the same thing I now do the promoting Holiness in the World in the Beauty and Perfection of it and he will acknowledge that I am far from having carried this matter too high I
Mary Magdalen the Zeal of St. Peter and the Labours and Travels of St. Paul which Firmness and Constancy is too mean a Name for These Vertues seem therefore to have been the peculiar Excellencies of these Persons and to have shone in them with more transcendant Lustre than any other These seem to have been the Vertues for which Grace and Nature eminently qualified them and to which the Providence of God more immediately and directly called them All this consider'd seems it not enough to come up to the Perfection of these great Men may it not suffice to excel in these Vertues which Nature Grace and Providence prescrib'd may not the Perfect be allow'd to want what he does not need would one not think that in many Respects it were enough for him to be free from this or that Vice rather than to expect that he should be adorn'd with this or that Vertue which he has no use for Especially if by Vertue we understand strictly such a Habit as enables us to act easily and delightfully To adjust this Matter 1. The Perfect Man must as I have proved before not only be set free from the Dominion of Sin but also abstain even from a single Act of presumptuous Wickedness he must neither Criminally omit a Duty nor Deliberately commit any thing repugnant to it 2ly He must be endowed with Spiritual Wisdom and Understanding with Faith Hope Charity with the Graces which I will call Vniversal because necessary and indispensable to all as Christians abstracting from their particular Capacities and Relations and that too in an eminent Degree so as to be strong in the Grace which is in Christ Jesus 2 Tim. 2.1 This will render him holy in all manner of Conversation and thoroughly furnish'd to all good Works These two things constitute Vniversal Righteousness compleat the Perfect Man and fully satisfie the Texts alledg'd Or if not what follows will 3ly He must excel in those Vertues which are most Natural I call those Vertues Natural to which Grace and Nature most powerfully dispose and incline him for these he seems to be design'd by God these will soon grow up to Maturity and much will be their Fruit and great their Beauty I do not all this while suppose that the Perfect Man ought not so far to subdue and rectifie his Temper as not only to overcome the Sin of this Constitution but in some Degrees possess the Vertue that is most repugnant to it But to expect him to be eminent here is I doubt too hard and unreasonable For here when he has bestowed much Pains and Travel much Care and Cost his Progress may not be so much as where he bestowed least But here I must add two Cautions the one is That no Man mistake contracted Habits for Nature and then conclude that it will be impossible for him to attain the Perfection of this or that Vertue through a natural Incapacity In the next place let no Man satisfie and content himself in a weak and imperfect State of that Vertue which is directly opposed to the Sin of his Constitution but let him think that here if any where his Vertue must be always growing and let him not doubt but that our Saviour's Promise as far as it can be accomplish'd on Earth belongs to his sincere Endeavours here Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after Righteousness for they shall be filled Matth. 5.6 4. The Perfect Man must be eminent in those Vertues which are most Necessary Such are those which his particular Station and Calling or any other Dispensation of Providence he is under requires of him Whatever Vertues may be more delightful these are more important others may be more natural these have more or Vse and more of Merit A Man may fall short of Perfection in others without either Disparagement or Guilt but Deficiency in these can hardly escape both Besides every thing is lovely it its place and in its time There is a peculiar Grace and Lustre that attends the Vertues of a Man's Station that is scarcely to be found in any other I would therefore have my Perfect Man truely great in his own Business and shine with a dazling Lustre in his own Sphere To this purpose surely speaks the Advice of St. Paul Rom. 12.6 7 8. Having then Gifts differing according to the Grace that is given to us whether Prophecy let us Prophecy according to the proportion of Faith or ministery let us wait on our ministring or he that teacheth on teaching or he that exhorteth on Exhortation he that giveth let him do it with Simplicity he that ruleth with Diligence he that sheweth Mercy with Chearfulness 5. Lastly as there is a different Guilt in Sins so there is different Merit in Vertues as amongst Miraculous so amongst sanctifying Gifts some are more excellent than others and he is the most Perfect Man who is enrich'd with the most Perfect Gifts The three Heroick Vertues of the Gospel are Faith Love Humility Nor do I presumptuously contrary to the Apostle exclude Hope but comprehend it under Faith Of Faith I have often had occasion to speak Humility will make the last Chapter of this Section and therefore I will only exhort to Love Love is the noblest Fruit of Illumination and Faith the true Source and Parent of Joy and Peace Love is the most pregnant Seed of a Divine Life 't is the Principle that animates moves and forms the whole Body of Righteousness Love is the bond of Union and Communion with the Father and his Son Jesus through the Spirit And 't is but fit that what renders as most like God should render us most dear to him too and this Love does for God is Love In short Love is the fulfilling of the Law 't is the Beauty and Perfection of a Disciple of Jesus and the great Subject of Praise and Glory in the Day of Judgment Love is the last Round in the Scale of Perfection and therefore my Perfect Man must abound in this What Degrees of Love of Desire or Complacency for the things of this present Life may consist with Sincerity what with Perfection may be easily learn't from several parts of this Work There is no doubt but the Perfect Man must love God to that Degree that he must always cleave to him walk as always before him ever meditate and contemplate on Him and his Works contrive and study labour and contend to please Him It must be an Affliction to him to be divided from Him but for a little while and he must ever and anon by Day and Night break out into his Praises and rejoyce and Glory in him 2. He must love God to that Degree as that all things in Comparison of Him must appear blasted and wither'd empty and contemptible without Pleasure without Beauty And consequently he must so thirst after the Beatifick Vision after the Presence and Fruition of God that he must earnestly desire to be dissolv'd and pant and long to be